The air in the courtyard crackled with malevolence, thick and suffocating. Huian's magic, a swirling vortex of shadows, held them captive. Zhang Li, his face contorted with effort, strained against the invisible force, muscles screaming in protest. They had come to protect Yinou, to prevent her from being dragged away by these people, but Huian had anticipated them.
"Let her go, Huian!" Zhang Li roared, his voice strained. He felt the magic tightening, cutting off his circulation. His attempts to channel his own spiritual energy were useless, the dark magic negating any effort. "She hasn't done anything to deserve this! It is I."
Huian merely laughed, a cold, humorless sound that scraped against their ears. "She is an anomaly, a mutation that should never have existed. She must be purged."
Their attention was abruptly seized by Yinou. She began to levitate, her form rising unnaturally into the air. Below her, etched into the dusty courtyard stones, a complex formation glowed with an eerie, pulsating light. It was not a formation they recognized; it was ancient, terrifying.
"No! Stop this now, or she's dead!" Su Ning cried, a desperate plea tearing from his throat. He battled against her restraints, but they were unyielding.
"Zhang Huian, you fool! Stop it! You're going to break her!" Zhang Li cried out, his voice filled with panic.
He remembered a passage from the ancient Book of Bai Huiling, a forbidden text detailing the most dangerous and volatile forms of celestial manipulation. This… this was the Samsara Acceleration. It was a forbidden technique that forced a soul to undergo several lifetimes in mere moments. It was meant to awaken dormant powers, or in rare cases, break the spirit completely. The risk was monumental.
The light intensified; the humming became a roar in their ears. They watched helplessly as Yinou's face contorted in pain and confusion, a kaleidoscope of emotions flickering across her features. Her body shuddered and trembled, as if experiencing the joys and agonies of countless lives in a matter of mere seconds. The formation pulsed faster and faster, the light becoming almost unbearable, before winking out, leaving Yinou hanging limply in mid-air before dropping to the stone floor with a sickening thud.
Zhang Li felt a cold fist clench around his heart. She was still. Too still. He had seen this technique before in his studies, and he knew the toll it took. He knew that it was supposed to awaken hidden powers, but the toll it took was immense. If the soul could not bear the weight of so many lives at once, it would shatter like glass. He feared the worst.
Huian, too, seemed startled by the sudden stillness. She rushed to Yinou's side, kneeling beside her still form. "Little one?" she asked, her voice laced with a rare tremor of concern. She reached out a hand to shake her, her fingers hovering over Yinou's pale cheek.
Then, Yinou's eyes flickered. They didn't focus but darted around erratically beneath her eyelids. A single tear squeezed its way out. It was the only sign of life at first. Her lips moved, struggling to form a word.
Huian leaned closer, her dark gaze searching for any sign of recognition. "Yinou, can you hear me?" When Yinou's hand suddenly shot out and gripped her wrist with surprising strength, Huian yelped with shock and attempted to pull away but her grip was like iron.
With a force that belied her small stature, Yinou dragged Huian towards her, a strange, almost metallic glow emanating from her eyes. In a movement too swift for anyone to react, she unleashed a wave of power, a fusion of light and shadow, of celestial and demonic energy. It was an energy they had never seen before, an impossibly potent blend that shattered the air around them. The force knocked Huian back, sending her crashing to the ground with a grunt. Before she could react, Yinou gently caught Huian's head before it hit the ground and laid it softly on the ground. Her brow furrowed even as she leaned down and kissed her forehead, a gesture of strange tenderness that seemed incongruous with the raw power she had just unleashed. "Mother…" she whispered, the word foreign, yet deeply familiar. She then reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before kissing her forehead. The tenderness was in stark contrast to the force she had just unleashed.